With COVID Cases Falling, Wharton To Reopen Its Campus To Visitors

Wharton will welcome applicants for the first time in nearly two years this month

After nearly two years of lock downs and restrictions due to the pandemic, the Wharton School today (March 2) announced that it would reopen its campus to outside visitors. Wharton said it would allow visitors to its Philadelphia campus starting March 17th.

However, the school is requiring visitors to register in advance for visits that would last no more than three hours. Visitors would be able to participate in a student-led campus tour and a panel and Q&A hosted by current students. But the school is still placing limits on the numbers of visitors and also keeping them out of Wharton classrooms.

The announcement from Wharton was made on the same day that the city of Philadelphia ended its indoor mask mandate. the city’s positivity rate for COVID dropped to 1.7%, meeting the standards for dropping the mask mandate. As of Tuesday, Philadelphia was averaging 87 new cases a day with 156 people testing positive for the virus in hospitals. The University of Pennsylvania’s COVID dashboard shows the positivity rate on campus at 1.17% for the week ending Feb. 26th.

‘WE’RE THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE WE ARE OPENING CAMPUS TO VISITORS ONCE AGAIN’

“We’re thrilled to announce that starting on March 17th we are opening campus to visitors once again,” Wharton officials said in an email to applicants. “With a commitment to providing a safe environment for everyone, we have put some new guidelines in place for our Campus Visits.”

The school is still banning walk-in visitors. “Registration is required, and space is limited,” according to the email. “Campus Visits will have smaller capacity and last 2-3 hours. The University of Pennsylvania requires visitors to follow public health guidelines for vaccination, wearing masks, physical distancing, hand washing, and helping keep our campus safe.

“Before arriving on campus, visitors must complete a PennOpen Campus pre-screening on the day of their visit. Each visitor must present their own Green Pass upon arrival. During your visit to Wharton you will participate in a student-led campus tour and a panel and Q&A hosted by current students. We are unable to offer entry into Wharton classrooms at this time but hope to reintroduce class visits as soon as the university finds it safe to do so.”

VISITORS ARE STILL LIMITED AND MUST REGISTER FOR A TWO-TO-THREE HOUR VISIT

Wharton also included links to register for each of Campus Visit days:

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